


campfire jam

by hi_hello_hey_there



Series: you don't have to say i love you (to say i love you) [8]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Adventures in Tagging, Alex Notices Things, Campfires, Gen, Sharing Clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27459157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_hello_hey_there/pseuds/hi_hello_hey_there
Summary: "Take my jacket, it's cold outside."
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina
Series: you don't have to say i love you (to say i love you) [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942267
Comments: 13
Kudos: 183





	campfire jam

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by: [gay-in-221b](https://gay-in-221b.tumblr.com/). Jess, I love you and appreciate you so much!
> 
> Not beta read because this week in America has been... a week, so excuse any little errors. Also, if you'd like to chat about the week America has had, I'm always available on tumblr to chat (tumblrs below).

Fall weather is fast approaching in Los Angeles, not that Alex or the boys are really affected by it. Still, he could tell it was getting chillier by Julie’s increased tendency to steal other people’s clothes to layer on top of her own. “I get cold easily. Sue me,” she had said when Reggie asked her about it one band practice after she’d stolen a discarded flannel from him. It was also due to the fact, strange as it was, that he could almost feel the autumn breezes and nightly temperature dips grazing the bared skin of his face and arms. It’s weird.

“We should have a campfire jam!”

The outburst kind of comes out of nowhere, startling a drumstick out of Alex’s hand. Flynn and Julie had decided to do their homework together in the studio, claiming the need for a change of scenery. They worked quietly while the boys played softly in the background, testing harmonies and instrumentals for a new song. Well, it  _ was  _ quiet until Flynn started shouting.

Julie, most adjusted to her best friend’s sudden yelling, simply looks at her as she dances around the room. She appears to be seconds away from faceplanting into her calculus notebook and welcomes the distraction willingly. “Okay, one, you stole that from Camp Rock, and two, why? For what? And also where?”

Reggie raises his hand, keeping up a steady strumming with the other out of habit even though everyone in the room can currently see and hear him, and asks, “What’s Camp Rock and how do I sign up?”

“Camp Rock is one of the defining movies of this generation, but that’s besides the point.” Flynn is pacing back and forth now, mumbling to herself and gesturing wildly with her hands. She has this look on her face that Alex has come to realize is her manager face, the face she makes when she’s coming up with some crazy PR scheme for the band. She snaps and points at Julie, who looks marginally more interested than she was a few moments ago. “My house. Firepit. The backyard is big enough for a small get together where we can sample some of the new music acoustically. Plus, I really want to host something fun since fall is starting.”

Julie lifts her glasses and rubs at her eyes before sending Alex and the other boys a look. “I don’t see why not,” Alex offers up on behalf of the group, his drumming slowing down on his practice pad.

“Yeah, sounds like fun,” Luke replies as he absently plucks out the melody for the song they had been working on. “We haven’t really gotten the chance to have chill, little gigs since we became ghosts. I kinda miss them.”

“Awesome!” Flynn’s already pulling out her phone and smiles at them. “I’m gonna let social media know to look out for a date. Maybe we can get your dad to film again.” And she’s rambling to herself as she types away, things about s’mores and set lists and personal invites she’s going to send out.

Alex’s attention is pulled to Julie when she actually does drop her head onto the desk and groans. “I hate calculus.”

Luke snorts and gives her a dorky smile she doesn’t see. “That’s what you get for being smart, Molina.” Alex rolls his eyes at his friend as Julie balls up a discarded piece of scrap paper and throws it at him without looking. He can’t quite believe his eyes when the paper ricochets off Luke’s cheek and onto the ground. Reggie certainly notices but neither of the girls are paying attention at this point. Luke gives him a panicked look, eyes clearly saying  _ what do I do? _

Alex just shrugs, although he can’t help but file this particular incident away in the same mental folder as all the other unexplainable sensations he’d suddenly been able to feel again. He’d have to talk to the boys soon about what this might mean. And he’d really love to pick Willie’s brain but nobody had seen hide or hair of the skater since the day of the Orpheum performance.

“Alright!” Flynn announces cheerily, breaking Alex out of his thoughts. “The general public knows to be on the lookout for Julie and the Phantoms updates.”

“Great. Now can we get back to studying so we can be done with studying?” Julie lifts her forehead from the table, an indentation from the edge of her notebook clear as day on it. It raises a little amused huff out of him and he goes back to drumming.

~ ~ ~

“Okay, so when you said your backyard was big enough for a small get together, you were just outright lying to us?” Reggie asks when they arrive at Flynn’s house a week and a half later. They had opted to ride along in the third row of the Molina’s car instead of poofing since none of them had been there before. Flynn had outdone herself this time as she tended to do. Fairy lights are strung up around her backyard, making the trees and deck twinkle in the early fall twilight. The fire was already blazing and Alex swears he can feel a warmth on the breeze as he checks out the bean bags and blankets that surround it in a semicircle. It all looks great, with the cajón they had managed to find among Julie’s mom’s stuff and three higher chairs set up a little ways away from the fire, but Alex has to agree with Reggie.

“Unless your idea of small is a hundred people,” Luke says, dumbstruck as he looks around. None of them had particularly glamorous lives pre-accident but this. This was something new altogether.

Flynn has the audacity to look perplexed. “It’s not that big. Come on inside while we wait.” She leads the group inside while Mr. Molina and Carlos join Flynn’s parents so they can set up his recording equipment. Alex brings up the tail end of their party and notices Julie shivering already.

She had decided on jeans and a pretty green floral blouse with a square neckline and open shoulders she found in her mom’s clothes, but with the rapidly cooling evening air, it wasn’t enough to keep her warm. They were only twenty minutes out from going on and people were starting to show, so they decided to warm up their voices. Alex figures that since he and the boys are made of air, they don’t really need to, but it helps get them in the right mindset, if nothing else. Tonight, however, as Julie leads harmonizing drills, he realizes he can identify the distinct sensation of strain on his vocal cords that only comes with singing out of his range, something he currently happens to be doing.

He shakes his head to clear those kinds of thoughts from his mind and focuses on Reggie’s pep talk. He follows it up by putting his hand out between all of them and starting up their usually rhythmic chant of “Julie and the Phantoms! Julie and the Phantoms!”

Flynn approaches them with a bounce in her step and declares, “Alright, lady and gents! You’re on. I’ll go out and introduce you, okay?” Julie gives her the thumbs up and immediately starts to shiver when the door opens and shuts after her.

“Nervous?” Luke taunts, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

“Oh, yeah. You know me. Just nervous all the time.” Something else Alex had noticed was how sarcastic she got when she was irritated.

Before he quite realizes what he’s doing, he’s shrugging out of his jean jacket and holding it out for her. **“Take my jacket, it’s cold outside.”**

She hesitates a moment, caught mid-shudder, before she grabs it and slips it on her shoulders. A content smile lines her lips. “Thanks.” And then she realizes. “What about you?”

“I’m a ghost,” he reminds her. “I don’t really need anything. But if it’s the aesthetic you’re worried about,” he poofs back to the loft in the studio just long enough to grab one of his hoodies and pull it over his head before coming back. “I got it covered.”

“Dork,” Julie scoffs, shaking her head with a grin and turning to the backyard to listen to Flynn’s words.

Alex chuckles and follows suit, catching the tail end of her introduction: “Now make some noise for Julie and the Phantoms!” Nobody can see the “phantoms” part yet, but they make their way down the porch steps and get comfortable in the chairs. Alex had always enjoyed getting to talk to fans up close but this is the closest he would get in their current state and he would take whatever he could get.

His eyes roam around the audience as he settles onto the cajón, noting their eager glances and hands stuffed in pockets or holding s’mores. A strange shiver makes its way down his spine when he catches a blonde boy staring and it’s… it’s almost like he’s looking  _ at  _ Alex and not  _ through  _ him. There’s a weird, purple gleam in his eyes, but he chalks it up to the shadows cast by the flickering flames. Alex shakes his head to be rid of those thoughts and realizes he’s at home here, a great, amazing feeling of serenity and excitement welling up inside of him when Julie says, “Hi, everyone!” He’s glad that, of all things, he gets to do what he loves with people who care about him, the giddiness of the crowd making the air electric and rumble of their applause filling his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> I really loved writing this one because Alex is the mom friend and I am also the mom friend so therefore I am Alex. But just the causal intimacy of sharing clothes is so heartwarming. Also! Because I made a goof with birthdays, I've edited the part of "booger to the rescue" where Reggie talks about birthdays so there's that. Nothing major but it might be confusing when I talk about birthdays later. As always, prompts are open from [this list](https://p0ck3tf0x.tumblr.com/post/98502010026/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you) and all prompts are open except 7, 10, 12, 18, 19, 31, 33, 37, 38, 39, 41, 44, 49, 53, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 82, 83, 86, 91, 92, 98, and 99. You can drop a comment here or send me a message on tumblr. Thanks for reading and I love you all so much. You're comments really do make me feel so loved so thanks again.
> 
> main: [hi-hello-hey-there](https://hi-hello-hey-there.tumblr.com/)  
> side: [toziers-token](https://toziers-token.tumblr.com/)
> 
> love, blue


End file.
